In general, the magnetic head of a disk drive is cleaned by means of a cleaning disk, which is made of a paper or fabric material and is capable of removing impurities, foreign matters, or undesirable elements from the magnetic head. However, such a conventional cleaning disk is devoid of a data-recording capability.
In the process of cleaning the magnetic head of a disk drive, the cleaning disk as described above is inserted into a disk drive before the disk drive is started. As soon as the disk drive is started, the cleaning disk begins turning so as to rub and pass over the magnetic head intended to be cleaned. However, in the course of cleaning the magnetic head, an operator of the computer has no way of telling for sure if the cleaning disk has done the job of cleaning the magnetic head. As a result, the operator has to rely on his or her instinct, experience and judgement to determine the timing of bringing the cleaning process to an end. This the prior art method of cleaning the magnetic head described above is rather primitive and unreliable. In order to mark sure that the magnetic head has been cleaned, the operator has to remove the cleaning disk from the disk drive into which a floppy disk is then inserted for testing the efficiency of the read-write function of the magnetic head. An affirmative test result indicates that the magnetic head in question has been successfully cleaned by the cleaning disk, and that the cleaning process can be terminated. On the other hand, a negative test result suggests that the magnetic head in question has not been successfully cleaned by the cleaning disk, and that the foregoing process of cleaning the magnetic head must be carried out repeatedly until such time when an affirmative test result is attained. It must be noted here that the cleaning process described above can be at times the source of a terrible nightmare to the computer operator who happens to have reached an erroneous conclusion that the magnetic head has not been cleaned successfully by the cleaning disk. As a result, the computer operator continues to carry out the cleaning process, thereby subjecting the magnetic head to damage caused by the excessive mechanical friction between the cleaning disk and the magnetic head which no longer has the impurities attached thereon to act as buffer.